from the bridal festival to the round dance

359 Pages·2013·2.9 MB·English

HEIDEGGER AND THE FESTIVAL OF BEING:
FROM THE BRIDAL FESTIVAL TO THE ROUND DANCE

by

Mathias Warnes

M.A. Warwick University, 2004

A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

in

The Faculty of Graduate Studies

(Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate Program)

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
(Vancouver)

December 2012

© Mathias Warnes, 2012
Abstract

This dissertation consists in a hermeneutical-phenomenological and being-historical
investigation of the time-play-space of “the festival” in the Collected Works of the
philosopher Martin Heidegger (1889-1976). After introducing the scope and limits of the
research within the primary and secondary literatures, followed by an interpretation of the
festival in the 1920s, I show how the festival becomes prominent in the mid-1930s by
way of Heidegger’s first sustained reading of Hölderlin, where the theme of the “bridal
festival” of humans and gods first emerges, and next in “The Origin of the Work of Art”
essay, which mentions “the festival of thinking.” From these two texts the festival then
extends its resonances throughout the later writings, and culminates after 1946 in a
thinking of the “round dance.” I focus on the bridal festival as a) the initiatory event of
tragic being; b) the fissuring clasping of unbound demigods; and, c) the central thought of
Heidegger’s being-historical thinking of the Greek gods and possible future for Hesperia.

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Table of Contents

Abstract..............................................................................................................................ii
Table of Contents..............................................................................................................iii
Abbreviations.....................................................................................................................v
Acknowledgements...........................................................................................................xi
Dedication.........................................................................................................................xii

1 On the Way to Heidegger’s Festival of Thinking (Being).....................................1

1.1 The Time of the Festival in Heidegger Studies and Continental Philosophy..........2
1.2 A Bridal Star above the Field Path: The Festival of Thinking the Festival.............8
1.3 Primary and Secondary Sources: Heidegger’s Holiday and Festival.....................15
1.4 Neither Feasts nor Weddings: Χαίρειν to Nietzsche, Derrida, and Agamben.......30

2 Intimations of the Festival Beginning in the Early Heidegger.........................47

2.1 Festivals of Interpretation: Phenomenology, Parousiology, Θεωρία, Rhetoric......48
2.1.1 The Festival of Theoreticity: Historical Origins of Phenomenology............................48
2.1.2 The Festival of the Everyday: Καιρός and Παρουσία in Ur-Christian Life.................56
2.1.3 The Festival of Σοφία: The Festive Θεωρός as Proto-Phenomenologist......................66
2.1.4 A Speaking that Festively Flows: Contributions of Aristotle’s Rhetoric.....................73
2.1.5 Occasional Leaps into the Elemental: Hermes in Plato’s Hermeneutics......................77

2.2 Myth, Death, Time, and Festival in Being and Time and Beyond.........................82
2.2.1 Festivals of Dasein in Division I: Victory/Defeat as Γιγαντοµαχία and Care-Fable.....82
2.2.2 Festivals of Temporality in Division II: Natality, Mortality, and the Hochzeit............95
2.2.3 Ekstatic Time and Daimonic Playspace: Myth and Freedom as Being-History.........102

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3 Demigods at the Wedding: The Tragic Historicities of Φύσις.........................112

3.1 Understanding the Homology of War and Festival in the 1934 Germanien........113
3.1.1 Germania on Holiday: Becoming the Homeland in Play and Strife...........................113
3.1.2 The Playspace of an Exilic Autochthony: On the Festive Origins of Art...................122
3.1.3 Beyond War and Play: Gardens of Ἔρως, Festivals of Φύσις-Ἀλήθεια.....................129

3.2 Bridal Festival as Essence of the Raging Demigods in the 1935 Der Rhein........135
3.2.1 The Unity of the Counter-Possibilities of the Between as Daimonic Destiny............135
3.2.2 Heidegger’s Paratheology: Dionysos, Christ, and all the Brides of History...............147

3.3 Daimonic Turbulences of the Πόλις-Festival in the Hearth: SS 1942 ................158
3.3.1 Heidegger’s Wirbel: Between Fervency and Excentricity.........................................158
3.3.2 The Tragic Caesurae and Bridal Festivities of Oedipus and Antigone.......................168
3.3.3 Ἑστία and Ἀλήθεια: The Uncanny Festival in the Four Choral Saying.....................179

4 The Wedding that Arrives: The Round Dance as Ἀλήθεια...........................200

4.1 The Holiday Chiasmus: From the Festival to the Bridal Festival........................201
4.1.1 The Onset of the Holiday: Deserting the Habitual, Playing in the Abyss...................201
4.1.2 The Double Chiasmus of the Holiday: Work, Fest, Justice, and the Nefas................209
4.1.3 From the Wedding to the Round Dance: An Initiatory Topology of Being...............226

4.2 Bridal Festivals in the Passing of all the Gods to the Last...................................247
4.2.1 The Festive Attunement: Between Unfettered Abyss and Configuring Light............247
4.2.2 “As When on a Holiday...”: Καιρός and Mnemosyne................................................258
4.2.3 “March, / When Night and Day are Equal”: Augenblick and Δίκη.............................271
4.2.4 The Festival of the Last God as Other Beginning of a Chorus to Come...................283

Conclusion: On Being in the Mirror-Playing Round Dance......................................299
Bibliography...................................................................................................................332

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Abbreviations

HEIDEGGER

All “GA” references are cited from Gesamtausgabe (Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann,
1976-). Citations usually include the GA pagination and the available English translation, with
modifications noted. Where only the GA pagination appears, the translations are my own, except
the citations from GA 39 which are from William McNeill and Julia Ireland’s in progress work.
Throughout WS is used as an abbreviation for Winter Semester and SS for Summer Semester.

BC Basic Concepts. Trans. Gary Aylesworth. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993.
BCA Basic Concepts of Ancient Philosophy. Trans. Richard Rojcewicz. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 2007.
BH Becoming Heidegger On the Trail of his Occasional Writings, 1910-1927. Trans.
Theodore Kisiel & Thomas Sheehan. Evanston: NorthWestern University Press, 2007.
BQ Basic Questions of Philosophy: Selected “Problems” of “Logic.” Trans. Richard
Rojcewicz & Andre Schuwer. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990.
BPP Basic Problems of Phenomenology. Trans. Albert Hoftadter. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 1982.
BT Being and Time. Trans. Joan Stambaugh. Rev. Dennis J. Schmidt. Albany: State
University of New York Press, 2010. Some reference has also been made to the John
Macquarrie & Edward Robinson translation. (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2000)
BTr Being and Truth. Trans. Gregory Fried and Richard Polt. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 2010.
CPC Country Path Conversations. Trans. Bret W. Davis. Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 2010.
CPI Contributions to Philosophy (From Enowning). Trans. Parvis Emad & Kenneth Maly.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999.
CPII Contributions to Philosophy (Of the Event). Trans. Richard Rojcewicz & Daniela
Vallega-Neu. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2012.
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DT Discourse on Thinking. Trans. John Anderson and Hans Freund. New York: Harper &
Row, 1996.
EGT Early Greek Thinking. Trans. David Farrell Krell & Frank Capuzzi. New York: Harper &
Row, 1975.
EHP Elucidations of Hölderlin’s Poetry. Trans. Keith Hoeller. Amherst: Humanity Books,
2000.
EP The End of Philosophy. Trans. Joan Stambaugh. New York: Harper & Row, 1973.
FCM The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics: World, Finitude, Solitude. Trans. William
McNeill & Nicholas Walker. Bloomington: Indiana Univesity Press, 1995.
FP “The Fieldpath.” Trans. Berrit Mexia. First Published in Journal of Chinese Philosophy.
13 (1986): 455-458. Online: http://www.omalpha.com/jardin/heidegger1-eng-imp.html.
FS Four Seminars. Le Thor 1966, 1968, 1969, Zähringen 1973. Trans. Andrew Mitchell
& François Raffoul. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003.
GA 4 Erläuterungen zu Hölderlins Dichtung. 5th ed. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann
1981, 2nd ed: 1996. Trans.: EHP.
GA 5 Holzwege. 1935-46. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann. 1977, 2nd ed: 2003. Trans.
as OBT.
GA 6 Nietzsche V.I/II (1936-39 / 1939-46). Ed. B. Schillbach. 1996/7. Originally published as
Nietzsche I and Nietzsche II (Pfullingen: Verlag Günther Neske, 1961). Trans. with some
reference to GA 43/44—WS 1936/7 and SS 1937—as NI, NII, and EP.
GA 7 Vorträge und Aufsätze. 1936-53. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann. 2000. All
parts translated across QCT, EP, NI, PLT, and EGT.
GA 9 Wegmarken.1919-58. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann. 1976, 3rd ed: 2004. Trans.
as PM.
GA 10 Der Satz vom Grund. 1955-56. Ed. Petra Jaeger. 1997. Trans. from the 1957 Neske
edition as PR.
GA 11 Identität und Differenz. 1955-57. “Der Satz der Identität” and “Die onto-theo-logische
Verfassung der Metaphysik,” both Trans.: ID.
GA 12 Unterwegs zur Sprache. 1950-59. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann. 1985. Trans.
as OWL.
GA 13 Aus der Erfahrung des Denkens. 1910-76. Ed. Herrmann Heidegger. 1983.
GA 14 Zur Sache des Denkens. 1962-64. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann. Trans.: TB.
GA 15 Seminare. 1951-73. Ed. Curd Ochwadt. 1986. Trans.: FS and HS.
GA 18 Grundbegriffe der aristotelischen Philosophie. SS 1924. Ed. Mark Michalkski. 2002.
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GA 19 Platon: Sophistes. WS 1924/25. Ed. Ingeborg Schüssler. 1992. Trans.: PS.
GA 24 Die Grundprobleme der Phänomenologie. SS 1927. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von
Herrmann. 1975. Trans.: BPP.
GA 26 Metaphysische Anfangsgründe der Logik im Ausgang von Leibniz. SS 1928. Ed. Klaus
Held. 1978. Trans.: MFL.
GA 27 Einleitung in die Philosophie. WS 1928/9. Eds. Otto Saame & Eda Saame-Speidel. 1996.
GA 29/30 Die Grundbegriffe der Metaphysik. Welt—Endlichkeit—Einsamkeit. WS
1929/30. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann. 1983. Trans.: FCM.
GA 38 Logik als die Frage nach dem Wesen der Sprache. SS 1934. Ed. Günter Seubold. 1998.
Trans.: LEL.
GA 39 Hölderlins Hymnen »Germanien« und »Der Rhein«. WS 1934/5. Ed. Heinrich Hüni.
1990. Trans. in preparation by William McNeill & Julia Ireland.
GA 40 Einführung in die Metaphysik. SS 1935. Ed. Petra Jaeger. 1983. Trans.: IM.
GA 45 Grundfragen der Philosophie. Ausgewählte »Probleme« der »Logik«. WS 1937-8. Ed.
Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann. 1984. Trans.: BQ.
GA 50 Nietzsches Metaphysik. SS 1941/2. Einleitung in die Philosopie—Denken und Dichten
WS 1944/5. Ed. Petra Jaeger. 1991. Trans.: ITP.
GA 51 Grundbegriffe. SS 1941. Ed. Petra Jaeger. 1991. Trans.: BC.
GA 52 Hölderlins Hymne »Andenken«. WS 1941/42. Ed. Curd Ochwaldt. 1982.
GA 53 Hölderlins Hymne »Der Ister«. SS 1942. Ed. Walter Biemel. 1984. Trans.: HHI.
GA 54 Parmenides. WS 1942/43. Ed. Manfred Frings. 1982. Trans.: PA.
GA 55 1. Heraklit: Der Anfang des abendländischen Denkens. SS 1943. 2. Logik: Heraklits
Lehre vom Logos. SS 1944. Ed. Manfred Frings. 1987.
GA 60 Phänomenologie des religiösen Lebens. WS 1920/21. Eds. Matthias Jung & Thomas
Regehly. 1995. Trans.: PRL.
GA 61 Phänomenologische Interpretationen zu Aristoteles: Einführung in die
phänomenologische Forschung. WS 1921/22. Eds. Walter Bröcker & Käte Bröcker-
Oltmanns. 1985. Trans.: PIA.
GA 63 Ontologie: Hermeneutik der Faktizität. SS 1923. Ed. Käte Bröcker-Oltmanns. 1988.
Trans.: OHF
GA 65 Beiträge zur Philosophie (Vom Ereignis). 1936-38. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von
Herrmann. 1989. Trans.: CPI and CPII.
GA 66 Besinnung. 1938/39. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann. 1999. Trans.: MI.
GA 71 Das Ereignis. 1941-42. Ed. Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann. 2009.
vii
GA 75 Zu Hölderlin—Griechenlandreisen. Ed. Curd Ochwadt. 2000. Aufenthalte (1962)
Trans.: SOJ.
GA 77 Feldweg-Gespräche. 1944-1945. Ed. Ingrid Schüßler. 1995. Trans.: CPC.
GA 81 Gedachtes. Ed. Paola-Ludovika Coriando. 2007.
HHI Hölderlin’s Hymn “Der Ister.” Trans. William McNeill & Julia Davis. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1996.
HPS Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit. Trans. Parvis Emad and Kenneth Maly. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1988.
HR The Heidegger Reader. Ed. Günter Figal. Trans. Jerome Veith. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 2009.
HS Heraclitus Seminar. Trans. Charles H. Seibert. Evanston: Northwestern University
Press, 1993.
ID Identity and Difference. Trans. Joan Stambaugh. Chicago: Harper & Row, 1969.
IM Introduction to Metaphysics. Trans. Gregory Fried & Richard Polt. Yale: Yale
University Press, 2000.
ITP Introduction to Philosophy—Thinking and Poetizing. Trans. Phillip Jacques Braunstein.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992
TDP Towards the Definition of Philosophy. Trans. Ted Sadler. New Brunswick: Athlone
Press, 2000.
KPM Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics (Fifth Edition, Enlarged). Trans. Richard Taft.
Bloomington: Indiana, 1997.
LEL Logic as the Question Concerning the Essence of Language. Trans. Wanda Torres
Gregory and Yvonne Unna. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2009.
LHA Letters 1925-75. Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger. Ed. Ursula Ludz. Trans. Andrew
Shields. Orlando: Harcourt Books, 2004.
LW Letters to His Wife 1915-1970. Ed. Gertrud Heidegger. Trans. R.D.W. Glasgow.
Cambridge and Malden: Polity Press, 2008.
MFL Metaphysical Foundations of Logic. Trans. Michael Heim. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 1992.
MI Mindfulness. Trans. Parvis Emad & Thomas Kalary. Cornwall: Continuum, 2006.
NI Nietzsche: The Will to Power as Art. Trans. David Farrell Krell. New York: Harper &
Row, 1991.
NII Nietzsche: The Eternal Recurrence of the Same. Trans. David Farrell Krell. New York:
Harper & Row, 1991.
viii
OBT Off the Beaten Track. Trans. Julian Young & Kenneth Haynes. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2002.
OHF Ontology—The Hermeneutics of Facticity. Trans. John van Buren. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 1999.
OWL On the Way to Language. Trans. Peter D. Hertz. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1982.
PA Parmenides. Trans. André Schuwer & Richard Rojcewicz. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 1992.
PIA Phenomenological Interpretations of Aristotle:Initiations into Phenomenological
Research. Trans. Richard Rojcewicz. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.
PLT Poetry, Language, Thought. Trans. Albert Hofstadter. New York: Harper & Row, 1971.
PM Pathmarks. Ed. William McNeill. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
PR The Principle of Reason. Trans. Reginald Lilly. Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
1996.
PRL The Phenomenology of Religious Life. Trans. Matthias Fritsch & Jennifer Anna Gosetti-
Ferencei. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004.
PS Plato’s Sophist. Trans. Richard Rojcewicz & André Schuwer. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 1997.
QCT The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays. Trans. William Lovitt. New
York: Harper & Row, 1977
SH The Staiger-Heidegger Correspondence. Trans. Arthur A. Grugan. Man and World. V.
14, 291-307. The Hague: Martinus Niehoff Publishers, 1981.
SOJ Sojourns: The Journey to Greece (Aufenhalte). Trans. John Penteleimon Manoussakis.
Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005.
SUP Supplements: From the Earliest Essays to Being and Time and Beyond. Ed. John van
Buren. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002.
STE Schelling’s Treatise on the Essence of Human Freedom. Trans. Joan Stambaugh. Athens:
Ohio University Press, 1985.
TB On Time and Being. Trans. Joan Stambaugh. New York: Harper & Row, 1972.
WCT What is Called Thinking? Trans. J. Glenn Gray. New York: Harper & Row, 1968.

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HÖLDERLIN

Citations of Hölderlin have consulted the following English translations noted where modified. In
most cases, where the German is not given, the translations have been interpreted against a
standard version of the German text: Friedrich Hölderlin Sämtliche Werke und Briefe (I-III). Ed.
Jochen Schmidt. Frankfurt am Main: Deutscher Klassiker Verlag, 1992. Citations from Hölderlin
in translated Gesamtausgabe volumes generally retain the word choices of translators.

EL Friedrich Hölderlin: Essays and Letters. Trans. & Eds. Jeremy Adler and Charlie
Louth. London: Penguin Classics, 2009.
DE The Death of Empedocles: A Mourning-Play. Trans. & Ed. David Farrell Krell. Albany:
State University of New York Press, 2008.
HF Hymns and Fragments. Trans. & Ed. Richard Sieburth. Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1984.
HSP Hyperion and Selected Poems. Ed. Eric L. Santner, various Trans. New York:
Continuum, 1990.
OA Hölderlin’s Sophocles: Oedipus and Antigone. Trans. & Ed. David Constantine.
Northumberland: Blood Axe Books, 2001.
PF Poems and Fragments. Trans. & Ed. Michael Hamburger. 4th Ed. London: Anvil Press,
2004.
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